Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Congressional Negotiators Begin Talks On Payroll Tax Cut, ‘Doc Fix’

Although Demcratic and Republican lawmakers differ on how to pay for it, they seem to agree there needs to be a deal in order to prevent a deep, scheduled cut in Medicare physician payments.

The New York Times: Two Sides Far Apart On Payroll Tax Cut
Negotiators are far apart in how to cover the $160 billion it would cost to maintain the cut, extend expiring unemployment benefits and avoid deep cuts in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients (Weisman, 1/24).

Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Begin Talks On SGR
Democratic and Republican negotiators agreed that they need to produce a deal to avoid a 27.4% cut in Medicare physician pay rates from occurring next month. But there were differences over whether to seek a permanent or temporary fix to the sustainable growth-rate formula and how to pay for any such measures(Daly, 1/24).

CQ HealthBeat: Early Talk About Doc Payment Formula Suggests Yearlong Fix
Tuesday marked the first public discussions of the year among lawmakers about how they will address the Medicare physician payment formula when the current two-month patch expires on Feb. 29. Early indications are that they will work toward a yearlong fix. The current two-month patch blocking a 27 percent physician payment cut under the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) payment formula was part of legislation signed into law late last year (Reichard, 1/24).

Medscape: Pay for SGR Repeal With War Savings, Says Organized Medicine
The American Medical Association (AMA) and 109 other medical societies are urging Congress to use a peace dividend from military pullbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan to underwrite the massive cost of repealing Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for setting physician reimbursement. The SGR formula calls for a 27.4% pay cut on March 1 unless Congress acts to avert it. ... These cuts have added up to $290 billion worth of "SGR bad debt," the 110 medical societies said in a letter yesterday to Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (Lowes, 1/24).

Also on Capitol Hill, the House has scheduled a vote on repealing the CLASS Act and news outlets examine the House GOP strategy and the health policy climate.

The Hill: Vote To Repeal Part Of Health Care Reform Law Set For Next Week
The repeal bill isn't expected to pass in the Senate but Republicans hope to use it to paint Democrats as fiscal misfits who refuse to discard a program that the Obama administration itself has said is unworkable. The bill cleared the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce panels largely along party lines (Pecquet, 1/24).

The Washington Post: House GOP Strategy: A Referendum On Obama
Annual spending is down — in 2012 federal agencies will spend more than $100 billion less than Obama originally proposed — but many of the rank-and-file Republicans yearn to complete the dramatic overhaul of the federal government crafted last spring by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). That plan would have reduced agency spending levels to where they were in 2008 and dramatically recast entitlement programs, including offering private options for Medicare (Kane, 1/24).

CQ HealthBeat: Shifting Health Policy Climate May Mean Big Changes In Medicare, Health Law, Analysts Say
[At] a conference of health insurance agents,] two analysts, Bill Hoagland, vice president for public policy at big insurer Cigna, and William McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, strongly suggested that a large shift is going to occur in the policy environment. Hoagland said major change is coming in the Medicare program. McInturff’s analysis strongly suggested significant changes are coming to the health law. Both are Republicans whose views are respected on both sides of the aisle (Reichard, 1/24).

The Washington Post: House GOP Strategy: A Referendum On Obama
Annual spending is down — in 2012 federal agencies will spend more than $100 billion less than Obama originally proposed — but many of the rank-and-file Republicans yearn to complete the dramatic overhaul of the federal government crafted last spring by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). That plan would have reduced agency spending levels to where they were in 2008 and dramatically recast entitlement programs, including offering private options for Medicare (Kane, 1/24).

CQ HealthBeat: Shifting Health Policy Climate May Mean Big Changes In Medicare, Health Law, Analysts Say
Those who would like to revamp or repeal the health care law and overhaul Medicare could draw comfort — with some caveats — from remarks early Tuesday by two leading analysts at a conference of health insurance agents. The two analysts, Bill Hoagland, vice president for public policy at big insurer Cigna, and William McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, strongly suggested that a large shift is going to occur in the policy environment. ... Both are Republicans whose views are respected on both sides of the aisle (Reichard, 1/24).

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